Ghana’s Cardinal Turkson gets closer to becoming first black pope

Ghana Business News ^ | 10-24-09 | Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

[mlizzy]

Ghana’s first Catholic Cardinal, Peter Appiah Turkson is closer to becoming the first black pope ever of the Catholic Church.

Saturday October 24, 2009, Pope Benedict appointed Cardinal Turkson to head the Vatican’s justice and peace office. This position is a high-profile one that cements his reputation as a possible future candidate for the papal office, according to the Associated Press.

The justice and peace office is responsible for promoting the church’s social teachings on justice issues, such as war, the death penalty and human rights. Turkson told reporters three weeks ago there was no reason there couldn’t be a black pope, particularly after Barack Obama was elected U.S. president.

Turkson’s appointment to his new post was announced at the end of a three-week Vatican meeting on the role of the Catholic Church in Africa, which Turkson had headed. Born in 1948, Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson became the first Ghanaian to be appointed to the position on October 21, 2003.

He has been the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference in Ghana since 1992. He is also the Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana and the Archbishop of Cape Coast in Ghana’s Central Region. He was ordained priest on July 20, 1975; appointed Archbishop on November 21, 1992 and consecrated on March 27, 1993.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The question of using condoms for non-contraceptive purposes is one that has not been ruled on definitively by the Church, and thus Catholics are at liberty to discuss and defend different points of view, as I understand it.

An analogy would be hysterectomy for the purpose of sterilization (morally wrong) vs hysterectomy for the purpose of eliminating uterine cancer (not morally wrong.) Purpose counts.

As for the off-the-cuff remark about Obama, it's jarring all right -- wince-making---- but it does not necessarily indicate a political, still less a doctrinal stance.

As for reading the Qur'an? I think everybody should. It does lead to more understanding. It lacks a thematic, moral or narrative arc, as far as I can see: it's inconsistent to the point of incoherence. That helps me understand a lot. Not in a good way.

Keep an eye on Turkson, but don't leap to far-reaching judgments. (Though of course the Leap to Judgment is a major olympic sports preference for all us'n's at Free Republic!) 8o/

[mlizzy]

Thanks for clarifying where the Church stands on this, which is evidently not conclusive at the moment?, however, I do know that even if you do not have your reproductive organs, as Fr. Schendt explained to us, you are still standing in the way of God. Also there is the important issue that a condom is a "divider" between man and woman (much like taking a shower with a raincoat on; would you get clean?). So sex with a condom no longer is the gift from God it was meant to be joining man and woman. Would kissing be loving through Saran Wrap?

I don't know what to say about reading the Qur'an. I once thought it okay to go back to my old Lutheran Church as a way of understanding where I came from for so many years, yet I do not believe that is so anymore as it becomes a door open to me to allow the confusion (no Live Eucharist!) to enter back into my heart.

So, I'm not really judging the cardinal ... yet (this article WAS in the National Catholic Reporter, it could be wrongly worded) ... but it's not a big hop to imagine I'm hearing the cardinal with humor (almost infer) that Obama was elected president of the United States through "divine providence."

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks for your response.

I can see it from your point of view. I myself think a condom at least "connotes" a refusal of complete sexual union. Oddly, I remember reading about a highly political ("gender radical") lesbian who "occasionally" slept with men but insisted on a condom because she felt it somehow signified her "separatism." Hmm, I thought.

Any human being is capable of saying stupid things as well as making mistakes, and this includes highly-placed Cardinals and the Pope himself. We should pray for them. Hard.

[mlizzy]

Yes, you're right ... hard praying is good! ... if I spent as much time at our Adoration Chapel as I do on FreeRepublic, my prayers could save the town! [putting on coat, going to chapel ...:)]

God's blessings to you ... thanks for responding to my comments.

[TASMANIANRED]

Jumping the gun a bit.

[mlizzy]

I think it’s tacky that this cardinal would even answer questions about being the pope when Benedict is currently the Holy See. The fact he brings up Obama makes it all the more inappropriate/troublesome. I see a bit of a “show boat,” and that’s not what I look for in a great pope.

[mlizzy]

My husband spoke with his brother today, who is an R.C. priest/pastor (very orthodox!) and he said the talk in Africa that the Pope gave earlier this year was indicative of the Church's standing in regard to condom use for single AND married people. He said he is under the opinion there would be no other ruling coming from Rome regarding same.

Link.

[Mrs. Don-o]

God bless our gutsy Pope.

[Lukasz]

This might be a smart move. Pope want to keep on eye on Cardinal Turkson by giving him office in Vatican. Such tactic might open a door for some more committed bishop to run this African country.